Love to Lunch, Italian Style!

Italians know how to “do lunch”! If you’ve ever been to Italy, you know what I’m talking about. You can start your meal in a restaurant at noon and still be sitting there at 3PM, without ever feeling rushed by the waiter to give up your table or being brought the check without asking for it. Starting with an appetizer followed by pasta followed by meat or fish (sometimes served with or followed by salad and veggies) followed by coffee and dessert is a typical meal in the life of an Italian.

I experienced this same type of slow dining growing up in my Italian household, but only on Sundays when dinner was served at lunchtime. In the evening, we’d have a light snack—that’s all you’d ever want after eating Sunday dinner at my house!

It’s unfortunate that the typical lunch in our American fast-food culture and fast-paced living is ordered from a drive-up window, eaten in our car at record speed (both the driving and the eating), and forgotten about minutes later.

I’ve recently learned about a non-profit organization that’s trying to change our fast food habits worldwide. Slow Food was started in Italy in 1989 to counteract fast food and fast life. They have over 80,000 members worldwide. You can check out their programs and membership info at www.slowfood.com.


In their manifesto, they state among other things:

“We are enslaved by speed and have all succumbed to the same insidious virus: Fast Life, which disrupts our habits, pervades the privacy of our homes and forces us to eat Fast Foods….May suitable doses of guaranteed sensual pleasure and slow, long-lasting enjoyment preserve us from the contagion of the multitude who mistake frenzy for efficiency. Our defense should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savors of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of Fast Food. …That is what real culture is all about: developing taste rather than demeaning it.”

I believe if we had a better relationship with the food we eat, we would be healthier and skinnier!
So, next time you’re tempted to get a drive-by lunch of some greasy food that was probably cooked in month old oil, envision a meal like this:

First to arrive at your table is a bowl of steamy, shiny black mussels that were slowly simmered open in a broth of garlic, olive oil, white wine and savory parsley. You gently pull the mussel from its shell and sweep it through the broth catching bits of garlic and liquid. The taste is subtle yet distinctively of the ocean. The texture is soft and inviting. After the mussels are gone, you wipe up the last remaining flavor soaked liquid with a chunk of crusty bread that both crunches and melts in your mouth at the same time. Now your pasta has arrived. You twirl your fork around several firm strands of spaghetti that have been tossed in a red sea of chopped tomatoes and aromatic spices, sprinkled on top with pungent cheese. The sauce clings perfectly to each piece, and as you chew that first bite, a mixture of warm flavors burst in your mouth—sweet and savory like a childhood memory. You slowly work your fork through the mound of pasta, twirling, tasting and enjoying it until the last strand scoops up the remaining sauce as if they never existed apart. The next course is…up to you. Go have a good meal today!!!



Buon Apetito!
Debbie

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10 Free Gifts That Make Women Happy

Despite the ever increasing desire to decorate our lives with the most expensive luxury items we can afford (or not), there are still free gifts that can make many women happy. If you’re a woman and this list resonates with you, give it to your partner for those upcoming birthdays, anniversaries and holidays. If you’re a man, note the simple things in life that will definitely increase your chances of getting that thing you want most!

1. A massage
2. A free day without the kids (no watching them, driving them, feeding them, etc)
3. A home-cooked dinner
4. A foot massage (different from #1, which is a full body massage)
5. A cleaned house
6. A heartfelt hug, spooning or kiss.
7. The words, “I appreciate everything you do.”
8. The words, “I love you.”
9. The offer, “Let’s go dancing sometime soon.”
10. The offer, “Why don’t I plan the next vacation.”

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